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Opposing withdrawal of income support for asylum seekers

Catholic Social Services Victoria, together with several member agencies, have been working to reverse federal government withdrawal of income support from vulnerable asylum seekers.

You are invited to a workshop that will discuss the challenge and rewards of our engagement with spirituality and prayer in the Catholic social service workplace on Thursday 26 July 2018, 1.45 for 2.00-4.00pm. Fr John Petrulis will open discussion, and there will be much wisdom to be shared. The workshop is for those exercising leadership in various ways in Catholic social services and related endeavours.

‘Walk in their footsteps’ was both the challenge and the invitation thrown down by Julian Burnside QC over the weekend. Across Saturday and Sunday, St Brigid’s Mordialloc and St Louis de Montfort’s Aspendale held a photo exhibition at St Brigid’s, to raise awareness about the plight of refugees and asylum seekers. Combined with a large number of international award winning images, several of them Pulitzer prize winning shots, the schools’ own primary students contributed and displayed their own original art, expressing their view of the world’s present humanitarian crisis.

Safety for emergency service workers is vital, but mandatory sentencing is not the way to achieve it - early intervention, rehabilitation and restorative justice are important parts of the solution, according to Denis Fitzgerald of Catholic Social Services Victoria. This joins calls from others to Premier Daniel Andrews to reconsider legislative proposals that would have Victorians found guilty of harming paramedics, police and other emergency service workers face mandatory prison sentences.